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Mixed or average reviews - based on 11 Critics What's this?

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  • Summary: As the owner of legendary hotspots like Limelight, Tunnel, Palladium, and Club USA, Peter Gatien was the undisputed king of the 1980s New York City club scene. The eye-patch-sporting Ontario native built and oversaw a Manhattan empire that counted tens of thousands of patrons per night in its peak years, acting as a conduit for a culture that, for many, defined the image of an era in New York. Then years of legal battles and police pressure spearheaded by Mayor Giuliani's determined crackdown on nightlife in the mid-'90s led to Gatien's eventual deportation to Canada, and the shuttering of his glitzy kingdom. (Magnolia Pictures) Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 11
  2. Negative: 1 out of 11
  1. Reviewed by: Rene Rodriguez
    Oct 13, 2011
    75
    Depending on your age, Limelight could make you nostalgic for those bad old days - and sort of glad you'll never be able to relive them.
  2. Reviewed by: Seth Colter Walls
    Sep 20, 2011
    60
    Given all this interesting raw material, it's mildly disappointing that the filmmakers tie it together with such cheesy connective tissue.
  3. Reviewed by: Joe Neumaier
    Sep 23, 2011
    60
    Transporting as it is, this doc leaves a bad taste in your mouth, if just for the ill will it drudges up.
  4. Reviewed by: Lou Lumenick
    Sep 23, 2011
    38
    Even if Corben hadn't photographed Gatien with lighting that makes him look like a horror-movie villain, he'd hardly come off as innocent.

See all 11 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 1
  3. Negative: 0 out of 1
  1. Limelight has a great story to tell about the New York club scene in the early 90's. However the documentary tries to cram to much unnecessary information in, leading the viewer to become confused. The amount of amazing subjects and collective characters interviewed for this film, it's no wonder that the doc spilled a little to much information. If they would slow down the pace, work on incorporating the music of the club into the soundtrack and embraced the story that ends the film this doc would have no problem becoming one of the greats! Expand

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